Simply Bed:'I slept with 1,000 women in my wild years but I'm sorry now, says three-girls-a-day Hucknall (who, by the way, has a new series of concerts to promote)

It's no secret that Mick Hucknall has had a surprising amount of success with the opposite sex.

Only now he is 50 and happily married, however, has he revealed the astonishing scale of his womanising.

The Simply Red singer who, surprise surprise, has a tour to promote, claims to have trysted with a breathtaking 1,000-plus women – including three a day at the height of his fame.

Apology: Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, pictured here in August this year, has said sorry for his philandering ways at the height of his fame

Among the celebrities he dated were Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ulrika Jonsson, Martine McCutcheon and Helena Christensen. Yet he was never satisfied and claims he turned into a sex addict.

‘I regret the philandering,’ said the red-haired star who in May married former art dealer Gabrielle Wilke-Wesberry, mother of their three-year-old daughter Romy True.

‘In fact, can I issue a public apology? They know who they are and I’m truly sorry.’

Hucknall, who has sold more than 50million records including hits such as Holding Back The Years, said: ‘A red-headed man is not generally considered to be a sexual icon but when I had the fame, oh my God, it went crazy

Settled down: Mick and his wife Gabriella Wesberry with whom he has a three-year-old daughter Romy

‘Between 1985 and 1987, I would sleep with about three women a day, every day. I never said No. This was what I wanted from being a pop star. I was living the dream and my only regret is that I hurt some really good girls.’

Hucknall said he believed he became a womaniser because he had never had a close relationship with his mother Maureen. He was only three when she walked out on his father Reg in Manchester.

He said: ‘I wanted love from every single woman on the planet because I didn’t have my mother’s love.’

The singer told the Guardian: ‘It was an addiction that took me to my darker period from 1996 to 2001, when I really came close to the gutter – I was more into drinking than seducing ... I had got bored with it all as I never really got the emotional contact that I craved.’

Conquest: Mick with actress Catherine Zeta Jones in 1998

Supermodel girlfriend: Mick with Helena Christensen at a party in 1998

Hucknall and Miss Wilke-Wesberry, 39, were married at 16th-century Fortner Castle in Glenisla, Perthshire.

The humanist ceremony was attended by just eight people. The couple had first dated in the 1990s, but split when the singer felt his wild lifestyle was incompatible with commitment. They started seeing each other again in 2002.

During his womanising years, Hucknall became a regular ‘victim’ of kiss and tell exposes.

After one fling, ‘model’ Elena Tomasi said: ‘I was just a plaything to be tossed aside. Once he had got what he wanted he changed from a loving, charming man into a complete pig.’

Despite his apology, the Mail could yesterday find none of them prepared to discuss Hucknall.

A spokesman for Martine McCutcheon said she would make no comment on the relationship – which is perhaps unsurprising since she was once sick on his ginger dreadlock

Hucknall
founded Simply Red in 1984 and the band have had a string of hits
including Holding Back The Years, which went to number two in 1986.

The
band had a total of 22 hit singles and Hucknall is believed to have a
personal fortune
of more than £40 million.

But he admitted to the Guardian
that he believed his music has maligned by the shadow of this 'Mick
Hucknall' character.

He said: 'Yes I do and it breaks my heart. It
really does. But I hope my music stands up in the long haul
when that image had died away.

Ladies' man: Mick is surrounded by female companions at a nightclub in 1998 including socialite and It girl Tamara Beckwith

Sophisticated: Mick with socialite Lady Victoria Hervey in 2000

'The truth is there was a golden era in
music from 1962 to 1978 – after that it all went a bit tits up. I blame
the f***ing drum machine and the f***ng shoulder pads of the 1980s. I
feel a bit like the antichrist as I had the bulk of my success in the
80s and I hate 80s music.

'I don't care if it's in fashion now, I hate
it. I hate everything about it. The only thing I succumbed to was the
ridiculous hairstyles.'

And he said he regrets trying to
'introduce jazz into the pop
mainstream'.

He added: 'I was on a mission, really. Perhaps I
should have just said, "sophisticated".

Old flame: Mick leaves Browns nightclub - again in 1998 - with former girlfriend, club manager Miss Dee, who defended him when he was accused of rape in 2000

Camera shy: Mick tries to hide his face as he left a party with a mystery brunette in 1998

'Whatever I do winds people up. I've been tattooed with
every one of those criticisms. Even now, I'm the boy everyone loves to
hate.

'Sometimes I give too
much of a f*** But I created the boxing match. I'm a troublemaker. I'm
from the punk generation, but I make romantic, soft soul music. I like
the bizarre disconnect of
that but, clearly, some people don't.'

He has announced that he will leave the band after a final tour this
year.

He recently took the place of Rod Stewart in a series of comeback
concerts by 1970s rockers the Faces.

Holding back the years: Mick with Simply Red at the height of their fame performing on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1989

Stepping in: Mick performed with the reformed Faces, replacing Rod Stewart as the lead singer at an American Express gig at the British Music Experience to kick off their reunion tour in August this year